An Accident of the Mistletoe Kind
by fezwearingjellybananas
Summary: The girl looked incredibly familiar and talking would have been nice. Shame there's mistletoe everywhere. [Barneswald]


Bucky picked at the suit, agreeing with Clint's complaints next to him.

Tony Stark had dragged them out to some kind of fundraiser thing for "good publicity" and "a lasting effect on community" and "come on guys its for charity" but Bucky just felt out of place. Maybe because he'd spent the last seventy years as an _assassin _and publicity of any kind was kind of the opposite of the point.

People just kept staring, everywhere he went. Especially these people. He just wanted to go home really.

He caught sight of a brown haired girl and got an eerie sense of deja vu. She slipped out of sight as Sam came up behind him.

"You all right? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I think I'm the ghost here. That girl. Who is she?"

"Which one?"

"Over there."

"Don't know. You'll have to ask someone else. Why?"

"She looks familiar."

"I don't know her. She came in with that tall, grey haired man. He's... Under the table. Right. I don't know, some representative for a UN thing."

"Weird."

"They're British."

"Peggy wasn't in the habit of crawling under tables. And the girl isn't."

"I don't know. Go and talk to her."

"But what if she recognises the Winter Soldier?"

"Bucky, everyone knows what HYDRA did to you. Tony and Steve made sure of it."

"I know, I just..."

"I get it."

"Where's Steve?"

"Last I saw, with Natasha dragging Clint out of a vent. You could try by the food?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Bucky made his way over.

"Oh, sorry."

"No, no, it's my fault."

He looked at the source of the English voice and saw the girl.

"Hi there."

"Hi. Do I know you?"

"I don't know. James, but most folks call me Bucky."

"Clara. Nice to meet you."

"And you. Sorry again, I was just, er..."

A noise came from his side and Bucky looked down at Clint's grinning face.

"Above your head Barnes." Bucky looked up groaned. "Come on, Nat told me I could leave early if I made sure everyone noticed their mistletoe."

"It's all right," Clara said. "Best get it over and done with, hey?"

"Yeah."

Bucky leaned towards her, intending to give her a quick peck, but somehow it turned into a proper kiss. They broke apart and Bucky blinked a few times. Clint seemed to have vanished again.

"You're quite good at that."

"You too."

"Are you sure I don't know you? That just, I just had a feeling of deja vu."

"Me too. But I think I'd remember you. Even with the memory wipes."

"Memory wipes?"

"Bucky Barnes, at your service."

"You're Bucky Barnes? Oh gosh. Well, maybe that was why you looked familiar. I thought it was something else though."

"Clara, there you are," the grey haired man said. "Come on."

"Looks like I'm needed. Sorry. For bumping into you."

She ran off and Bucky realised he'd never even got a last name.

* * *

"That went well," Bruce said. "Remind me never to let Clint near mistletoe again."

"It was Nat's idea, and you lot are the ones who made me wear a suit," Clint said. "You're just cross you had to kiss everyone."

"I believe Clint would get on well with Darcy," Thor said. "Perhaps we should-"

"No," Jane said. "Bad idea."

"Darcy? iPod girl? Yeah, she was pretty cool. What about that girl you were with Barnes? You two seemed to hit it off."

"A girl Buck?" Steve asked. "Who?"

"Clara. Just Clara. Never got a surname. The one Sam said was from that UN thing."

"What UN thing?" Tony asked. "Don't remember a UN thing. Don't remember a Clara either."

"Well, she was definitely real," Clint said. "He checked."

"That was you and your mistletoe."

"I can try and find out," Natasha offered. "If you hit it off that well."

"Nah, just some mistletoe, right? Where's Sam gone?" Bucky tried to change the subject.

"He was talking to Rhodey," Tony said. "They're planning something, I know it."

* * *

Aliens decided to invade on Christmas Day. Of course they did.

Except it was more crashing and Bucky wasn't entirely sure what was going on, except there was a flying London police box.

He guessed it was just a disadvantage of not being able to fly that he got left on the ground while Iron Man, Thor, War Machine or Iron Patriot (whichever he was now) and Falcon were up there. Bruce was being Bruce rather than Hulk and doing maths with Tony, trying to work something out, while Steve and Natasha were waiting and Clint as calling out what was going on.

Really, Bucky was completely confused, especially when the box disappeared and no one knew what had happened to it. The whole ship just seemed to right itself and fly off. All in all, a very strange Christmas, but Jane just shrugged it off, saying stuff like it happened in London every year, which was why her mother normally came over to her for Christmas rather than the other way around.

They had a quiet day after that. Lots of food, quite a bit they ended up giving to whoever they found that looked hungry (either they made too much deliberately or they were all just big softies. Bucky went with both)

He was quite happy as he lay down in bed that night, cuddled up with a hot water bottle from Rhodey, he really did hate being cold now, and he almost didn't notice the bit of paper flapping around under a piece of mistletoe.

_Sorry I had to dash off, aliens about to crash into Earth and all. It's what I do. It's not, I'm an English teacher. Nowhere near as exciting as being an Avenger. But I've got a friend, I go and help him sometimes. _

_Anyway, rambling. It was nice meeting you. I'd like to do it again maybe, if you wanted? But maybe without the mistletoe- I mean, not just without mistletoe, I mean, just, just getting to know each other? That probably still sounds wrong but I don't have any more paper so I can't start again because _someone _dropped it into space._

_He's claiming it was an accident. It's a good thing I didn't have marking with me._

_So. Rambling again. I'm picking up bad habits. Erm, I've left my number if you were interested? I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't. You just seemed familiar and not just because you were Bucky Barnes. Something else._

_Ignore me. I'm not even sure you'll even get this. But if you do, Merry Christmas._

_Clara Oswald_

A number followed for somewhere in Britain and Bucky smiled.

Ms Clara Oswald. Maybe he'd try calling in the morning.

Merry Christmas Ms Clara Oswald.

* * *

**Author's Note: And Merry Christmas reading people**


End file.
